Method of making beaded welting



Sept. 10, 1963 P. w. GREENE 3,103,024

METHOD OF MAKING BEADED WELTING Filed May 9, 1962 FIGJ FIG.2

PIC-3.3

IN VEN TOR. I44 Greene BY fld w efimmu A TTOQNE v 3,103,024 METHQD F MAKING BEADED WELTING Percy W. Greene, Whitman, Mass, assignor t0 Barbour Corporation, Brockton, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed May 9, 1962, Ser. No. 193,409 4 Claims. (Cl. 112-146) This invention relates to a beaded shoe welt and to a method of making the same.

The invention has lior an object to provide a novel and improved one-piece beaded shoe welt which lends itself to manufacture in a simple and economical manner to provide a relatively strong welt.

The invention has for a further object to provide a novel and improved method of making a one-piece beaded shoe welt whereby the welt may be produced in a simple and economical manner to provide a relatively strong welt.

With these general objects in view and such others as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the beaded shoe welt and in the method of making the same as hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a substantially rectangular grain leather fillet from which the present beaded shoe welt is produced;

MG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the steps in the cutting operations preparatory to the formation of the beaded welt;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the shape of the welt after being subjected to a first molding operation; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the completed welt after being subjected to a second molding operation.

In general the present invention contemplates a novel and improved beaded shoe welt and to a method of making the same. In accordance with the preferred method of making the present beaded shoe welt a substantially rectangular leather fillet is subjected to a cutting operation to reduce the thickness of the outside sewing margin or welt extension portion of the fillet and to a cutting operation to reduce the thickness of the inside sewing margin or inseam flange portion of the fillet. The cutting operations provide across sectional shape adapted to be molded into a beaded welt shape by a process of rolling to simultaneously form a stitching groove on the flesh or underside of the fillet and an upstanding head on the upper surface or grain side of the fillet, the molding operations being preferably performed in two steps or stages to produce the desired shape whereby to provide a shoe welt having a welt extension, an inseam flange and "an upstanding head, as illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings, represents a leather fillet of substantially rectangular cross section having an upper grain surface 12 and a lower flesh surface 14. In practice the cross sectional dimensions of the leather fillet 10 may preferably be one-half inch in width and threesixteenths of an inch in thickness. The first step in the method of producing the present beaded welt is to reduce the cross sectional dimensions of the welt extension portion and the inseam flange portion of the fillet. As illustrated in FIG. 2, a rectangular longitudinal cut is made in the underside of the fillet starting from the welt extension edge 16 at a point one-sixteenth of an inch up from the underside of the fillet and extending nine thirty-seconds of an inch inwardly along a line 18 parallel to the top of the fillet, and then downwardly along line 20 to the underside to provide a welt extension 22 of reduced thickness. Incidently, the rectangular salvage strip 24 cut from the fillet is of the correct size and shape to enable it to States Patent be made into a flesh stitchdown welting. In order to reduce the thickness of the inseam flange portion of the fillet a longitudinal cut is made in the upper surface starting at a point three thirty-seconds of an inch up from the bottom of the fillet at the inseam flange edge 26 and along an inwardly and upwardly curved line 28 terminating at a point in the upper surface one-eighth of an inch inwardly from the inseam edge 26. The concave cut thus formed provides an inseam flange 30. The upper portion of the concave cut 28 also defines the preliminary shape of one side wall of the subsequently formed upstanding head.

The cross sectional shape of the cut fillet or leather strip thus produced, as shown in FIG. 2, lends itself p an'- ticularly to being molded by a rolling process to provide a stitching groove 32 in the underside of the strip and an upstanding head portion 34 in the top surface of the strip. In practice it is preferred to subject the cut strip to two rolling operations, the first rolling operation producing the shape shown in FIG. 3 by compressing and deforming the cut leather strip to shape the intermediate portion of the strip into its preliminary or semimolded shape whereby to provide the upwardly extended curved stitching groove 32 and the upwardly extended rounded head 34, and wherein the bottom or undersurfiace 23 of the welt extension 22 and the bottom surface 31 of the inseam flange 30 are aligned in the same plane. The semimolded strip shown in FIG. 3 is then subjected to a second molding operation to produce the final cross sectional shape, as shown in FIG. 4, wherein the bead 34- and the stitchlng groove 32 assume their completed upwardly compressed shape, and the inseam flange 31] is compressed to provide an angular surface 36 extending from the adjacent lower edge of the bead downwardly and outwardly as shown.

From the above description it will be seen that rhe present headed leather welt may be produced from a fillet having a cross sectional area less than the cross sectional area usually used for making a beaded welt of this type, thus resulting in a saving of leather. The completed beaded welt shown in FIG. 4 is of the same width as the leather fillet 10 from which it is produced and provides a one-piece headed welt free of incisions and free of folded and cemented flaps, thus producing a welt of relatively greater strength than the prior folded and cemented structures. It will also he observed that the inseam flange 30 comprises a solid portion of the welt free of incisions and free of cemented folded portions whereby to produce a stronger inseam flange.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been herein illustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. The method of making a beaded shoe welt which comprises cutting a substantially rectangular fillet of leather longitudinally from the underside of the welt extension to produce a strip having a cross sectional shape providing a reduced thickness at its welt extension end and cutting a portion from the upper side of the inseam flange extension providing a reduced thickness at its inseam flange end leaving the intermediate portion of the strip at its initial thickness, and then molding said strip to align the undersurfaces of the strip and to simultaneously provide in said intermediate portion a stitching groove in the underside of the strip and an upstanding bead in the upper surface of the strip.

2. The method of making a beaded shoe welt which comprises cutting a substantially rectangular fillet of leather longitudinally in the underside of the fillet to reduce the thickness of the welt extension portion of the fillet, longitudinally cutting :a concave portion [from the upper portion of the fillet to reduce the thickness of the inseam flange portion of the fillet, then molding the fillet thus prepared to align the undersurface of the welt extension with the undersurface of the inseam flange, and simutaneo usly providing a molded stitching groove in the undersurface and an upstanding bead in the upper surface of the belt.

3. The method of making a beaded shoe welt which comprises cutting a rectangular fillet of leather longitudinally along the underside to remove a rectangular strip from the welt extension end of the fillet, cutting the fillet longitudinally along the upper surface to remove a convex strip along the seam flange end of the fillet to prepare a strip of a cross sectional shape wherein the bottom surface ot the welt extension end of the strip is disposed in a plane above the bottom surface of the seam flange end and the concave surface formed by removal of the convex strip defines the preliminary shape of the upper surface seam flange and the adjacent side wall of the subsequently shaped head, the portion of the strip intermediate the inner ends of said cuts retaining their initial thickness,

to align the cut undersurface of the Welt extension withthe undersur'fa'ce of the inseam flange and to partially piovide a stitching gnoove in the undersurface and an upstanding bead in the upper surface of the strip, and then subjecting the strip to a second molding operation to complete the shaping of the stitching groove, bead and inseam flange.

4. The method of making a beaded shoe welt as defined in FIG. 3 wherein the upper surface of the completed inseam flange is shaped at an angle extending from the lower end of the adjacent Wall of the bead downwardly and outwardly to the outer edge of the flange.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,687,462 Lyon Oct. 9, 1928 1,908,486 Peabody May 9, 1933 2,251,178 Vizard July 29, 1941 

1. THE METHOD OF MAKING A BEADED SHOE WELT WHICH COMPRISES CUTTING A SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR FILLET OF LEATHER LONGITUDINALLY FROM THE UNDERSIDE OF THE WELT EXTENSION TO PRODUCE A STRIP HAVING A CROSS SECTIONAL SHAPE PROVIDING A REDUCED THICKNESS AT ITS WELT EXTENSION END AND CUTTING A PORTION FROM THE UPPER SIDE OF THE INSEAM FLANGE EXTENSION PROVIDING A REDUCED THICKNESS AT ITS INSEAM 